Given forecasts of clear sailing and red skies at night, skilled longshoremen have been known to fully load a Panamax reefer in less than 15 hours. Country shippers more familiar with hot-shots and loading chutes may be less than impressed.

Yet once you know that a refrigerated container contains a payload equivalent to 44 fattened steers or 210 finished hogs, once you imagine a cargo ship riding low in the waves with as many as 5,000 containers on board, all of a sudden it seems like a pretty good day's work.